Filters for removing contaminants from fluids, including fuels and oil, are known in the art. These types of filters are needed because fuels and oils often contain impurities, such as solid particles, that can damage an engine if not filtered out of the fuel or oil line before reaching the engine. Often, the filter will be disposed within a housing and will be constructed of an appropriate filtering material disposed between a fuel input and a fuel output of the housing. In some applications, the filter is often permanently disposed within a housing and discarded with the housing as a single unit.
In other applications, however, the housing is fixed to the vehicle and the filter may be removed therefrom. With removable filters, typically, these filters are disposed upright with the output being disposed near the bottom of the filter. Thus, it is possible that contaminants collect near the bottom of the housing and filter. The contaminants migrate to the bottom of the housing due to gravity during periods of normal use and particularly during intermittent usage, such as engine shutdown periods. Also, contaminants adhere to the housing wall and are captured by the filtering media. During intermittent usage and particularly when the filter is removed, these contaminants can become dislodged and migrate to the bottom of the housing. When the filter is removed, the contaminants may flow to a drain, and after the filter is replaced, the contaminants may return to the input. Thus, contaminants may be continuously recycled out of and back into the filter housing if a structure is not provided to prevent these contaminants from exiting through the base of the housing.
Current filters of this type have attempted to remedy these issues by applying a foam material, or other contaminant capturing features, around the circumference and near the lower end cap of the filter. The way in which this foam material has been applied in current filters, however, is undesirable in that an adhesive is used to retain the foam against the filter body. An adhesive that is misapplied, non-uniformly applied around the circumference of the filter, and/or an adhesive that fails due to heat, pressure, or other reason can result in the continual cycling of already filtered contaminates back through the housing. Other quality issues persist, such as inconsistent positioning or leakage through pleats (for current filters that dispose the foam material on the filter pleats). Furthermore, adhesives can be expensive and require additional expensive labor and/or processes to apply. Similarly, other contaminant capturing features are expensive from a material, tooling, and/or process standpoint. They are subject to similar quality concerns also. Thus, there is a need for a filter that addresses these shortcomings of current filters.